Kal Kaur Rai, 31, has been named Young Achiever of the Year in the annual Asian Business Awards.

And she is already selling her designs to famous names - including Beyonce, Mis-Teeq and Victoria Beckham.

The designer, who was a pupil at Royds Hall High School and Huddersfield New College, studied for a management degree at Hull University before moving to London to work for an advertising agency.

But her career in advertising was short. Within three years she had quit her job and was designing and making clothes at home.

In 1997 she launched her own label and today her clothes are sold in more than 70 independent shops across the UK.

She received her award this week in a glittering ceremony at the London Hilton Hotel, watched by guests including Prince Michael of Kent, news journalist Martin Bashir and pop star Myleene Klass.

"It is fantastic to have won the Young Achiever Award," she said. "I believe that hard work, creativity and dedication are just as important as celebrity endorsement when growing a business."

Kal was born and brought up in Huddersfield. Her dressmaking skills are self-taught - as a teenager she customised clothes with her own style.

Until August 2000 Kal was still working from home and selling at trade fairs. But she now has a showroom in the West End and also sells to 20 outlets abroad. She has a concession in the Oxford Street flagship Topshop store and is one of the best-selling new labels.

She describes her clothes as "very girly, sexy, sassy and young" and admits that they're for "thinner" girls. They range in price from £49 to £150, putting them in the more expensive, but not designer, price range.